Introduction

Welcome to Holtz!
With Holtz, you can play the abstract strategy games Zèrtz and Dvonn. Both of them are board games invented by Kris Burm, and are part of the GIPF project. Additionally there is a third game supported called Relax which is derived from the game "Take it easy".

Zèrtz: The Game

Zèrtz is a board game similar sophisticated than chess. It is played by two players. The players alternatingly set or knock out pieces according to several rules and have to gain a certain amount of white, grey or black pieces to win.

Dvonn: The Game

In Dvonn, players must form stacks according to several rules to capture the opponent's pieces without losing connection to the special DVONN pieces. The higher the stack, the faster it moves, so the tension increases until the very end...

Relax: The Game

Relax is based on the game "Take it easy". There are hexagonal pieces with three color coded numbers -- one for each direction. The goal is to place the pieces on a board while maximizing the rows where all pieces have the one number for the direction of the row. However, this doesn't always work out since each piece is part of three rows and the sequence of pieces is given randomly. You can find out more about the rules here.

Bloks:: The Game

Bloks is a strategic board game for two or four players. Every player has twenty-one differently shaped stones. Alternatingly, they place one of them on the board according to some simple rules until no space is left.

Holtz: The Software

The program Holtz supports playing Zèrtz, Dvonn and Relax against a human or computer player. You can play offline, against opponents on the internet, and against opponents within your local area network.
There are many hints and help texts for beginners.